


Les Monstres Aussi Tombent Amoureyx.

by PerStephanie



Series: The Moonlight Series. [2]
Category: SHINee
Genre: Alpha/Beta/Omega Dynamics, Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Werewolf, Blood and Gore, Blood and Violence, Freeform, M/M, Pain, Torture, Violence, Work In Progress
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-01-31
Updated: 2020-03-02
Packaged: 2021-02-25 15:28:42
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 5
Words: 5,208
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22498348
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/PerStephanie/pseuds/PerStephanie
Summary: Prequel to ‘Drowned In Moonlight’, Jinki’s Origin.
Relationships: Choi Minho/Kim Kibum | Key, Kim Jonghyun/Lee Jinki | Onew, Kim Jongin | Kai & Lee Taemin
Series: The Moonlight Series. [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1617073
Comments: 6
Kudos: 7





	1. The Centre

**Author's Note:**

> Notes:  
> (∞)*Temporary Playlist can be found here: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/2CBZ3bCp1u248Kp5b0PDDl?si=VQ33oNP9RUaLjZSz0liLdQ

**The Centre.**

**＊*•̩̩͙✩•̩̩͙*˚‧͙⁺˚*･༓☾ 🌑 ☽༓･*˚⁺‧͙˚*•̩̩͙✩•̩̩͙*˚＊**

  
  
  


Jinki stared at the cloth wrapped figure sat upon the pyre. The lifeless form that was once his mother. Stood next to him was a new woman and a new and their four year old son. The young orphan did not cry out, or show sorrow, he simply stood still and tall like a man and watched as the flames ate away at his mother. 

He stood quietly as people began to leave, people he did not know, who did not know him. People who stared at him in with pity and suspicion. He stood quietly staring into the flames until the flames were no more, and there was nothing left but red hot coals. He continued to stare at them until they dwindled and died, until the rain came cold and wet, soaking him to the bone. 

The man came out to try to convince him to come inside to eat, dry off, and get warm. But the young boy did not move. He didn’t even look up into the man's eyes. Jinki didn’t even make a sound. Eventually the man left, and was replaced by the woman who stood silently beside him helping him hold his silent vigil.

The two of them stood next to each other silently throughout the night and into the next morning when hunger finally broke the child. 

“Is there food?” Jinki asked in a small voice.

“There is always food here. Shall we go make something delicious to eat?”

“Yes please, Ma’am.”

“You don’t have to call me ‘ma’am’, you can use my name, Sungmi.” She didn’t talk about his mum, or what happened to her. Jinki was thankful for that, he was also thankful she didn’t try to bring him in like her husband did. He understood his concern, but he wanted to watch over his mother one last night. 

Jinki tried to be very polite, quiet, helpful, and small when he could not be any of those things. He would always do things that needed to be done without being asked to do them. He’d even go out early in the mornings and trap food. He shied away from places like the market. And he’s always end up in the morning sleeping right in the doorway. He never angered at the younger boy, even when the child hit him and pulled his hair in fits and tantrums. In fact Jinki’s disposition never wavered from calm, and even tempered.

Eventually Minjun, Sungmi’s husband taught Jinki how to hunt with a bow and arrows. He was exceptional at hunting, quiet, and accurate always taking down whatever he shot at.

Jinki did everything he could think of doing to prevent his changing. He knew there were sifters here. He could sense them, smell them, see them. Sungmi was one. She had taken him aside one day and explained to him how the town worked. Had made him confess to her that he too was one. She told him, he’d be safe there in that town. 

But Jinki knew there was no safe place for him. There never would be. Jeong-song had promised him that much. And Jeong-song always kept his promises. 

So when the morning of the first full moon Jinki left before the first rays of light touched the Earth. He walked until his feet hurt, until they began to bleed, and then he walked more. Until he could no longer smell anyone. And there he sat and waited for night to come.

When Sungmi woke up she found Minjun already looking frantic and soon found that Jinki was missing. 

“Do you think he ran away?”

“Of course he did. But don’t worry, I have a feeling I know where he went, and that he will be back in a few days.”

“Do you think he’s…”

“I don’t need to think, I know. I can smell it on him. He has, he is, and he will.”

“But he’s so young.”

“That he is. And lost about it.”

Sungmi was correct at the end of the third day, a very tired, and dirty Jinki came back head hung low, face wet with tears. She decided not to confront him about it, in fact not to even mention it at all to him for the first day. She simply told him to go wash up and get ready for dinner. 

This went on for a few months before one morning Jinki was sneaking past the front gate when suddenly Sungmi stood before him.

“Shall we go together then?”

“I-ah-umm..” Jinki stammered

“I think it’s time I teach you how, don’t you?” 

“It’s okay. I don’t want to hurt you.”

“Then don’t. Let’s go.”

Time passed like this for a while. But it was impossible to keep what Jinki was a secret from the town. Soon fear of what Jinki was took hold and spread.

“We can’t keep him here. It’s too dangerous. Think of your own son!” Jinki over heard Minjun ask Sungmi one night. 

Jinki didn’t dare turn over, but he knew that weighted silence.

“I know. Jeong-song will not rest, he’s made that clear.”

It had been years since he had heard his father’s name spoken so casually…

“Then won’t he bring danger to us, the whole village?”

“Only if people know he’s who he is.”

“How are we going to hide him?”

“We’re not. I’m not. I’m going to take him to the centre, and that’s where he’ll remain.”


	2. Gu h-aonar.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Jinki and Minho become friends.

**Alone.**

**＊*•̩̩͙✩•̩̩͙*˚‧͙⁺˚*･༓☾ 🌑 ☽༓･*˚⁺‧͙˚*•̩̩͙✩•̩̩͙*˚＊**

  
  


Minjun and Minho were gone the next day when Sungmi woke Jinki up, a small parcel already packed and tied waiting for him.

“Jinki, get up, it’s time.”

“I know.” Jinki said getting up, rolling his borrowed mat up and putting it against the wall where it belonged before picking up the pack and waiting outside the door.

“Do you know who you are?”

“I’m Lee Jin-Ki. The son of Lee  Jeong-Song and Park Min-Ji, and a shifter.” He that he was dangerous. He was a monster like his father said after he shifted uncontrollably the first time two years ago, after he was the cause of his mother’s death. Minjun was right to be afraid of him. To not want him around his family.

He had worked hard to be able to control it, but he was still young and his temper still got the better of him from time to time. There was no telling if he’d shift in a fit of anger at anything and destroy another family. He didn’t want that. He wanted to be sent away, whatever, wherever ‘the centre’ was, he just hoped it would be a safe place to put him to protect those he cared about. 

“I will come once a month for ritual with you, to continue to teach you, and I will bring things for you that you need. But for the most part you will be left to your own.” 

“Yes.”

“You will make it. You will be ok.”

“I know.” 

The next few years Jinki fell into a quiet rhythm, alone in the middle of the woods that Jinki didn’t dare leave. However soon Jinki would get a new steady visitor, Sungmi’s young son, Minho. 

At first he’d stay outside, just watching Jinki. But soon he would follow Jinki when he’d leave to get water or clear his traps. Jinki assumed it was the curiosity of a child and would fade. However it intensified. Soon Jinki would get up and go to get water only to find the buckets filled already, or to collect more wood only to discover there was no need. Then one day he went to clear his traps and found the boy trying to skin a rabbit and making a mess of it.

“You’re doing it wrong.” Minho jumped at the sudden voice, slicing his hand with the knife. Jinki took a scrap of material from his shirt and wrapped it around the wound tying it tightly in place. 

“Come on, we have to get that cleaned, or it will fester.”

“But the rabbit.” Minho’s small voice protested as he was being dragged away by the older boy.

“It’s just a rabbit, you’re more important.”

The young child pulled his hand away and ran back for the dead animal holding it in his uninjured hand following Jinki back to the house. Where Jinki properly washed and bandaged the cut on Minho’s hand before taking the rabbit out to dress it. 

"How do you do that so fast?"

"Practice. I used to go very slowly, and cut my hand a lot too."

"How come you don't have a dad to do that for you?"

"I don't know where my dad is."

"What about your mum?"

Jinki looked up to the sky, and Minho thought for a second that he was going to cry, but instead the older boy blinked, and turned his head back to Minho, smiled a warm friendly smile and said, "My mum left."

"Did she say when she was coming back? When Sungmi leaves she always tells me when she'll be back."

"She's not coming back."

"Why?"

"She can't." Jinki smiled at Minho, and though he tried to make it a friendly smile, Minho could see the shadow of sadness present there.

"Oh." Minho looked down at his feet for a long while. 

"I think we could share a mum. I'll ask Sungmi to come visit you to tuck you in at night and make sure you eat all your kimchi." He said making a sour face that Jinki laughed at, which made Minho beam with pride. "I've got to get going now, but I'll come back soon and maybe you'll teach me how to skin a rabbit without cutting myself."

Jinki knew he should have told the boy not to come back, ever. That he was here for a reason. But he was young, and lonely, and "Yea, maybe." was all he could say. 

Minho, however, did not in fact come the next day, or the day after that. Not the days after that either. A fact Minho was aware of as well. Minho was a very respectful child, and he had made a promise to Jinki, but he had also made a promise to his father that same day. The trouble being they went against each other. A fact that had been eating away at him to the point of distraction. 

"Out with it." Sungmi poked at him one day. 

"It's nothing."

"Nothing doesn't wash the same spot in his clothes for thirty minutes straight."

"Mum, as Alpha, what do you do when you make two promises to two different people, but one promise makes it so you can't fulfill your first promise?"

"It depends on what the promises are, who they're made two, and where their position is."

"What if you know that means you keep your second promise, but you really want to keep your first one more?"

"Then I have to consider who else will be affected by that choice. As a leader no matter what decision I make, it doesn't just affect me. Every stone thrown causes ripples."

The next week Jinki woke up to Minho at his front door. Jinki had to rub his eyes to make sure he wasn't seeing things. 

"Sorry it took me so long. But here I am!" He held a small bag of rice and a wide grin on his face. 

"It's ok. I was just about to go look at my traps." Jinki returned the grin.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Notes:  
> (∞)*Temporary Playlist can be found here: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/2CBZ3bCp1u248Kp5b0PDDl?si=VQ33oNP9RUaLjZSz0liLdQ


	3. Under The Same Moon.

**Under The Same Moon.**

**＊*•̩̩͙✩•̩̩͙*˚‧͙⁺˚*･༓☾ 🌑 ☽༓･*˚⁺‧͙˚*•̩̩͙✩•̩̩͙*˚＊**

Soon the pair found that they were so well matched in their personalities that they could have been twins. And the areas where they didn't align perfectly, they complemented each other rather than disrupted. 

It never occured to Jinki that Minho really didn’t know who he was. Jinki knew that Minho came from the village of shifters, and kin, but even amongst them he always felt an outsider, a trespasser, because he was different. And different always meant  _ dangerous _ . So he had assumed that Sungmi had told everyone to stay away from him. He told himself Minho knew the danger, but simply ignored it, because that’s what he wanted to believe. He wanted to believe that he could have a friend.

Minho was blissfully unaware that Jinki was even a shifter, living the distance from the village that he did, and more concerned not to let Jinki know what  _ he _ was until he was sure Jinki was safe. Until he could take the responsibility on his own shoulder’s of letting Jinki know what he was. 

“Hey, Minho, about tomorrow, well the next couple of days, I’m gonna be gone. I’ve got to start to gather stuff, you know, for the cold months.”

“Yea, my family too, so I’m gonna need to help out with them. But when we’re done, I’ll come back up, if you’re not back I’ll wait a few more days, deal?”

“Deal.” 

This went on for several years, but the excuse, the lies, was always there, at the back of their minds eating away at them. Jinki felt the weight of guilt heavy on his shoulders for always lying to his only friend. And he had resolved a thousand times to come clean to Minho. To tell him what he was-that he was a monster, something to fear. And a thousand times he always found an excuse not to.

Then finally on his 16th birthday Jinki knew he could no longer keep the secret.

“Hey, Minho-ssi?”

“Yea, Jinki-Hyeong?” 

“I have something to tell you, you’re going to want this for it.” Jinki handed Minho his dagger. “I’m, I’m a-” Jinki was stammering, he took a deep breath, bawled his fits at his side and stood as tall as he could before continuing, “I’m a monster.” 

The look on Minho’s face was a slurry of thought and emotion as he let his thoughts swirl. Either Jinki had done something unforgivable and the town had turned from him, in which case his parents knew of him, and would know why. But why hadn’t his parents told him about Jinki then? It was against tradition to ever look again on a person who had been unseen. Or  _ he _ didn’t know there was a village of shifter’s just over that pass, but with various rituals taking the shifter’s this far there was no way  _ they _ hadn’t discovered him yet. In which case he would know, because they would have come to him. Cautiously at first, sure, but they’d come. “Unless…” Minho said, face finally shifting to one emotion, hand gripped tight around the dagger Jinki had given to him. 

“Unless?” Jinki inquired.

He didn’t get an answer, Minho just made one step forward, stabbed the dagger down on the table to his left, and stormed off.

Jinki didn’t quite know what to think of that reaction, as it wasn’t one he was prepared for. 

Minho had plenty of time on his way home to think over what he would say, how he would say it, and just what questions to ask. No matter how he looked at it, there was no way Sungmi didn’t know about Jinki. And he wanted to know why she had kept him secret for so long, why she had told him he was a monster.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Notes:  
> (∞)*Temporary Playlist can be found here: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/2CBZ3bCp1u248Kp5b0PDDl?si=VQ33oNP9RUaLjZSz0liLdQ


	4. Sufferable.

**Sufferable.**

**＊*•̩̩͙✩•̩̩͙*˚‧͙⁺˚*･༓☾ 🌑 ☽༓･*˚⁺‧͙˚*•̩̩͙✩•̩̩͙*˚＊**

Minho walked straight into his house, past his father straight to his mother. "How long have you known?"

"Since I left him there." She said without apology. 

"Why!?" Minho shouted to his mother, and pack Alpha. 

However, she was unimpressed with tantrum, and decided to address it, "When you can take responsibility for your words, you may question my actions, however you will not question me as you're Alpha, or your mother until then. And even then I will not respond to a demanding child."

Minho understood what she ordered of him. He knew there was no way to break it, without breaking his oath of loyalty to her. And that caused the adolescent child to storm back out of his mother’s presence. 

He didn’t go far, just to his rooms. To be seen going back out to Jinki would be taken as a challenge for Alpha-hood. He was thirteen, she was a considerable amount older than he was sure, plus she could shift, he still hadn’t, and might not at this point, so challenging her was, not an option. But his own sense of duty to his friend wouldn’t allow him to forsake his friend. He would have to go back to Jinki. He’d just have to do it secretly. She’d be going on ritual in a week. He could go then. He’d just have to explain then, that this was how his visits were going to have to be, three days two nights, then three weeks with nothing. Jinki would understand, Minho might not even have to explain much, Jinki seemed to be a really mature and accepting sort. And yet warm. Minho liked that the best about him. 

The next day Minho woke up and did his morning chores before going to his lessons. Eun Jiwon had just started his lecture when a man ushered in a new boy. He was smaller than Minho, but that was getting more and more common. The boy was also fairer than all the other boys, his hair was lighter too. His facial features were sharp, and his eyes continuously darted back and forth as he tilted his head slightly this way or that. Jiwon spoke in hushed tones to the man, too far away for Minho to hear over the murmur of the students around him. But he too was carefully observing the scene playing out before him. 

Eventually Jiwon came back the new child with him, and the class found out that the child’s name was Kim Jongin _ *(1) _ . "Would anyone mind making room for Kim Jongin to sit?" 

Without hesitation Minho stood and proclaimed that Jongin could sit next to him. 

Minho got along with just about anyone and it seemed everyone got along with him. It was assumed that if he shifted he'd be his mother's heir to the title. 

"Did you just move here?"

"Yes."

"Where did you move from?"

"Far, far away." Jongin said, pointing off behind him. 

"Ah, I'm Choi Minho."

"I know, the Alphas son."

"Yea. That's me."

Two weeks flew by, but Minho and Jongin grew close quickly, partly because it wasn't long until Sungmi made Park Jeongwoon, Jongin's nest father, Omega. 

It was considered very lucky to have a Raven as your Omega. Of all the shifters Ravens still held a significant number, and as a result their network of information was unparalleled. With a wereraven as her Omega, her eyes and ears she'd have a better chance to know what was headed the town's way with more time to prepare the town. And better still he had a family, a child he was protecting, a wife, who was expecting, so he was looking to settle permanently. Sungmi was not going to let this go. The fact that Minho, and Jongin got along did not ever really run through her mind. 

The other part being the two just got along well. It wasn't long before things went back to some kind of normal, the rhythm of the house as it had been for all of Minho's thirteen years. Get up, chores, lessons, chores, supper, then if there was still light enough he could see his friends. And it was always Jongin. 

"Hey, Jongin?"

“Yea?”

“Would you be willing to do me a huge favour?”

“Cover for you this weekend?”

“N-n-n,” Minho took a sharp inhale of breath, “How did you know?”

“You can’t hide what you're thinking for shite, and I guessed. Who is she?”

“There isn’t a she, he’s, a he.”

“Ok, so who is he?”

"He's just a kid I know, but he lives, well away-so I need time to go see him."

"So say you're with me." 

"I can't."

"Why?"

"Because you'll be on ritual too, won't you?"

"Mine are different. I have Sun Ritual, and they don't last as long."

"Ah."

"So, say you're with me. I'll go up with you, be your eyes and ears." Jongin winked. 

"Can you keep a secret?"

"Better than you can."

Minho exhaled sharply through his nose, but continued on anyways. "If I take you with me, you can not ever tell anyone either of us ever went there. I don't know why, but he was put there by my mum personally, and no one talks about him, like they don't even know he's there."

"What did he do?"

"I don't know, and the only person I can ask besides him, flat out told me to not even think about him anymore."

"Huh."

Sungmi left early two days later, Minho walked with her to Jongin's house and went inside with his friend. 

They waited patiently for the sun to rise, occupying their time by playing games and talking about the kinds of things they found interesting. And when they were sure that everyone that would be going to rural would be gone, they two made their exit. 

It was nice having someone along for the trip, Minho admitted to himself. And he did want his two best friends to meet. They stopped for the final time together just a few miles away from Jinki’s house. Minho wanted to get Jinki’s permission before bringing someone new around, and if he didn’t come back Jongin said he would understand and stay anyways until Minho got back and they’d still go home together. 

Minho made it to Jinki’s place quickly, a big smile on his face knowing he’d soon get to see his friend again, and explain things. But as Minho got closer, he heard sounds that first gave him pause and then spurred him forward and quickly. 

He could hear Jinki, moaning and grunting as if in pain and fighting, against almost animalistic growling. All Minho could think was that Jinki was in trouble. He ran around the house grabbing Jinki’s bow and arrows on the way. He had just notched an arrow when he looked up to just see Jinki. But Jinki mid-shift. Minho dropped the arrow, and then the bow, eyes open wide as Jinki rushed towards him, body contorting, bones snapping, as the flesh covering them began to tear. 

“Min-owww!” Jinki’s call ending in agony. “No! Leave! GO! RUUUUNNN!” Jinki called out through his pain. Before turning in the opposite direction to limb as far away as he could before the process was completed. He had managed to do it again. To put the people who cared about him in danger. 

Jinki contemplated leaving and not returning. But he couldn’t do that to Sungmi, to the village she had to protect. But he also couldn’t go there in this form. It’d have to wait until after the ritual, and then he’d go and tell her what he had done. He just hoped it’d be enough time. 

As Jinki turned away from Minho, Minho was turning from Jinki to run back the way he had come. He ran back to Jongin.

“Well, that was qui--” Jongin was cut off by Minho.

“He’s a shifter!”

“What?”

“HE’S A SHIFTER! HE’S NOT A MONSTER! He just shifted. It might be his first time. Oh Gods, this could be his first time!!”

“Ok, his parents should be able to handle it.”

“HE DOESN’T HAVE ANY!”

“What?!”

“You! You can shift, you can keep up with him. Shift, keep an eye on him!”

“Yea.”

Jongin concentrated, focused his attention on the sky, the air around him. How every hair on his body swayed with the breeze, and how weightless he was in the air. He focused his breaths, and his body began to shift, the follicles of his hair grew thicker, and poked through his pores in hard tight bristles that soon grew to pure white feathers. His nose elongated as his body shrunk. When he was finally finished he stretched out his newly formed wings shaking them and his body out, ruffled his feathers cawed twice, and took flight. Minho watched as soon a black Raven came and began to eat the leftover mess. It’s caw brought more, who brought more, and soon the mess was removed completely. 

Minho would have thought that was a neat trick, and a far more agreeable way to deal with such things, instead of the way his mother had told him to. He subconsciously shivered at the thought of eating his own skin afterwards. If had been able to process past the fact that not only was Jongin a Raven, but a  _ white _ Raven. Albino Ravens being incredibly rare, and considered, at least to wolves,  _ very _ lucky.  _ *(2) _

Minho shook himself and walked back to Jinki’s house. He was going to need meat when he got back. Minho was going to make sure he had some. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Notes:  
> (∞)*Temporary Playlist can be found here: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/2CBZ3bCp1u248Kp5b0PDDl?si=VQ33oNP9RUaLjZSz0liLdQ  
> (1) I know I’m dicking with when Jongin was born-but he’s the only one who could fit.  
> (2) The Colour white is considered lucky to onomius depending on cultural myths. However, albino Ravens do exist-they’re a real thing, here is a link: http://www.whitewolfpack.com/2016/06/a-very-rare-encounter-with-unique.html


	5. Run to the Rescue with Love.

**Run to the Rescue with Love.**

**＊*•̩̩͙✩•̩̩͙*˚‧͙⁺˚*･༓☾ 🌑 ☽༓･*˚⁺‧͙˚*•̩̩͙✩•̩̩͙*˚＊**

  
  


Minho spent the next two days gathering, trapping, fishing, preparing and preserving foods, and cleaning up around Jinki’s place. He knew how exhausted his mum always was when she returned, and she had two other people to help her with everything. Jinki didn’t have anyone. He knew Jinki was in good hands, Jongin was watching out for him, and would come back to get Minho if he was needed. 

It didn’t take Jongin long to find Jinki. The unfamiliar bird kept his distance from Jinki, but never put him out of sight. Jinki for his part seemed to be handling his transformation well. Jongin had never seen a wolf’s first shift, but for birds it was always completely disorientating. One minute you're on the ground, the next you’re in the air with no idea how you got there. And because you consciously think about it, you forget how to fly. And falling sucks. He shook his head, and mimicked a sound like that of someone clicking their tongue.

He wasn’t sure if a wolf should be having a similarly difficult time adapting or not, he’d have to ask Minho. But he kept his vigil over the black wolf. Watched him hunt, and nap, and explore, and mark every tenth tree he happened by. Eventually Jinki started to make his way slowly back to his house in the middle of the woods, in the middle of nowhere. And left him when he reached it. Flying back to where he had made his camp, and found his things wrapped up and placed back fresh that morning. 

“Thanks, Minho.” Jongin said into the air.

Jinki stumbled worn out and still shifting back to his human form into his house to find Minho still there, food waiting. 

“Minho?” The name coming out slow and soft as the older man tripped into Minho. “Why… Are you still here?” He said as he collided with the younger man sending them both falling to the floor mat Minho had placed out. 

Minho held tight to Jinki, Jinki reached his arms out and braced himself against them and his knees, legs intertwined with Minhos. He never broke eye contact and now they were so physically close to one another there was no space between them and Minho could feel Jinki’s muscles under his skin still shifting, moving back into place and his hot breath breaking on his face before Jinki’s eyes rolled back lids closing body collapsing fully onto Minho’s. Lips against his cheek, breaths coming soft and short, before falling into a deeper, more steady rhythm. Jinki had passed out. Minho let out the breath he didn’t realize he had been holding and only then felt the flush of heat and dampness of the sweat all over his body. 

He rolled Jinki off of him and onto the mat, covering him before leaving to go down to the river just a ways off. He suddenly felt very warm, and wanted to cool off. 

By the time Minho returned still wet from the water, Jinki had woken up and dressed sitting head in hands on his mat.

"You're awake. Good. Are you feeling ok?" 

Jinki lifted his head, "Minho. I'm sorry."

"Why?"

"Because I'm… I've-" Jinki's voice broke, "I've put you in danger."

"No, you haven't. I live in a village of shifters. I'm going to take you back with me. You can't live alone like this. It's not safe."

Jinki shook his head. "I can't live in the village Minho. I'm dangerous."

"How? How are you dangerous?"

"Because I am."

"Why?"

"Because it’s my fate."

"Well, lucky for you I don't believe in fate. So eat, and then we'll head out. I have someone I want you to meet." 

Minho knew he wasn’t strong enough to take responsibility for Jinki. Minho was just a human after all, not a shifter. But Jongin  _ was _ a shifter, and between his rank as the Alpha’s only son, and Jongin being the only son to the Omega, they might just be able to pull if off. 

But all Jinki agreed to do was to meet this other person, hoping it might be the one that had been following him. If not, then there would be bigger trouble, and going into town would be the only option. 

They packed up the food that Minho had made, and the few things Jinki would need to have for the hike and made their way to Jongin’s camp. 

Jinki let out a small sigh of relief when the presence he felt in the woods matched what he felt standing in front of the tall young man, whose smile was almost as infectious as Minho’s.

“I’m Kim Jong-In.” He said bowing formally to Jinki.

“Lee Jin-Ki.” He said bowing back.

The shifters both knew that the other was too. Some kind of ancient link between all of their genetic types. But neither knowing their differences. 

"You two should head back." Jinki said, looking at the two younger men. 

"You have to come with us, it's not safe for you here by yourself." Minho protested.

"I'm perfectly safe." Jinki said in his usual quiet commanding voice. 

"No. You're wrong."

"Minho, here, alone, is the safest place for everyone." 

"Do you know how weak you are right after ritual? After transformation?!" Minho was getting agitated and Jinki could smell it, could see it in the change of colour Minho was radiating. 

Jinki opened his mouth to speak, but Minho cut him off.

"But you're not. Trust me. I know." Minho swallowed hard before hastily adding "I saw you.  _ Remember _ ?" And turning a bit pink in the ears. 

Jinki took mental note of the colour change here. 

"Minho." Jinki took in a deep breath before continuing, "Me, out here, alone, far away, is the safest for every one. Please, trust me on this." Jinki then looked Minho right in the eyes and finished, "Please. Stay away, because I can't come further, nor go away farther. So, please, stay away from me Choi Minho." 

Before turning around and walking back into the woods. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Notes:  
> (∞)*Temporary Playlist can be found here: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/2CBZ3bCp1u248Kp5b0PDDl?si=VQ33oNP9RUaLjZSz0liLdQ


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